Prepping for COP27

March 22, 2022
This article was first published by American University in Cairo’s Cairo Review of Global Affairs. It was published as part of UCF’s partnership with AUC, thanks to the generous support of Jonathan and Nancy Wolf.   The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) is the most water-scarce region in the world and is expected to […]

Global Methane Emissions Reach a Record High

July 15, 2020
According to a study and initiative by Stanford Earth and Stanford University scientist Rob Jackson, global methane emissions have reached the highest level ever recorded (Earth). The research shows that human activities, such as coal mining, oil and natural gas production, and cattle ranching, are the primary causes (NBC). Africa and the Middle East; China; […]

The Urban-Rural Disconnect and Impacts of COVID-19 on the Water, Energy and Food Nexus

June 1, 2020
Societal sustainability rests on the three interconnected pillars of water, energy and food, the WEF Nexus. Supply and demand of each must be in balance with the other two or the three-legged stool either wobbles or falls over leading to social and political instability. The ultimate driver of the Nexus is economics, and WEF interactions […]

An Illuminating Farmer-to-Farmer Story in Morocco

May 4, 2020
William ‘Bill’ Nichols served as a volunteer consultant through the United States Agency for International Development’s Farmer-to-Farmer Program (USAID F2F) for two weeks in January 2020. From New Mexico, his collaboration as an F2F volunteer improved the tree nursery production of four cooperatives in southern Morocco. One immediate benefit of his visits with Moroccan farmers […]

Contrasting Responses of the Water-Energy-Food Nexus to Long Term Change, Catastrophic Weather Events and the COVID-19 Pandemic

April 6, 2020
WEF Nexus as a Framework to Evaluate Societal Responses to Disturbance The WEF Nexus is a convenient means to assess interactions among the three resources controlling the structure and function of human communities and natural ecosystems: water, energy and food. System sustainability depends on maximizing resilience in the interactions among the resources comprising the three-legged […]